Differences between life in high school and life at UC Berkeley

You’re almost there. The acceptance letters are rolling in, and your last days of high school are fast approaching. But despite your excitement, you might be feeling a little apprehensive. After all, all you know is high school. What is college even like? What if it’s just like … a huge high school? Well, we at the Clog promise you that life at UC Berkeley is not like high school. Here are just a few reasons why:

1. For college students, the weekend starts on Thursday.

Starting the weekend early is one of the perks of being a college student. While high-schoolers have to wait for Friday night to have some fun, college students start partying on Thursdays. (But yes, we all still appreciate a Harry Potter GIF.)

2. Extra credit doesn’t have the same magical feeling to it.

Unlike teachers in high school, most college professors don’t even give extra credit. If they do decide miraculously to give it, it usually counts toward 0.001 percent of your grade — but you’re happy to take it.

3. You start to have deeper friendships.

Though you might have had a great group of friends in high school, your friendships in college will feel much deeper and secure. You have a large group of people to chose from, and the huge variety of clubs at UC Berkeley allows you to befriend people with similar interests.

4. No homework doesn’t mean no work.

In high school, no homework equated to freedom — but in college, no homework doesn’t always mean no work. Even if you don’t have any assignments to submit, you always have 200 pages worth of reading left to do for the day.

5. You enter the real world.

College feels really daunting at first, probably because you realize you’ve entered the real world. No longer are you thought of as a “kid.” You can do whatever you want — no more parental supervision. You are the adult now.

6. You start to email more.

College makes you realize how important and useful emailing really is. The days of exchanging numbers with your project partners or your boss are over; now, all you do is contact each other through emails.

7. You have to make the decision to buy your textbooks.

Unlike in high school, your school or your parents no longer provide you textbooks. Now you actually have to make the conscious decision on whether to buy textbooks or not — a decision that can be very tough, given the price tags on most books.

8. Professors don’t really ask you if you’ve done the reading or homework — they expect that you’ve done it.

In college, professors don’t really spoon-feed you. They just assume you are responsible and have done all the assigned work and reading for the lecture, even if the assigned work was reading 500 pages in a day. You are no longer told what’s expected of you; people just expect it.

9. You can leave whenever you want.

The freedom provided in college can be amazing. But you have to keep yourself in check. The ability to skip classes whenever and come and go as you please can be very harmful if abused. Like Spiderman’s uncle says, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

10. Food gets better.

Maybe it’s because you have more options or just the freedom to eat whatever you want, but food gets better in college. Though you sometimes miss your mom’s home-cooked meal, food from the so-called Asian Ghetto on Durant Avenue does a good job of taking your mind away from it.

11. College is huge.

In high school, you get used to knowing everyone in class and knowing every bit of your school building. College is different, especially in the beginning. Classes in colleges contain hundreds of students, and you may not know anyone in them. Walking from one class to another is no easy feat either, especially on a hilly campus.

12. You get double the opportunities to have crushes on older figures of authority.

In addition to getting better access to college guys, college also provides you with double the opportunities to crush on older figures of authority. College gives you access to professors and GSIs.